En la bahía de San Francisco, una pequeña isla alberga lo que durante muchos años fue uno de los penales más temidos y conocidos del mundo: Alcatraz, también conocido como “La Roca”. Esta prisión de máxima seguridad, activa entre 1934 y 1963, se erige como un símbolo de rigidez y aislamiento, destinada a albergar a los criminales más peligrosos del país.

Alcatraz fue escenario de innumerables historias de delincuentes, evasores, y figuras que pasaron a la historia, algunos por sus crímenes, otros por sus intentos fallidos de escape.

Actualmente, la prisión continúa siendo un referente cultural, no solo por las fugas cinematográficas y las historias de sus reclusos, sino también por la reciente propuesta del presidente Donald Trump, quien ha sugerido reabrirla para encarcelar a los “delincuentes más despiadados y violentos” del país.

Más allá de los presos que la habitaron, Alcatraz es famosa por su régimen penitenciario estricto y su imponente localización. Al estar rodeada por el agua, la fuga era casi imposible, lo que la convertía en una de las prisiones más temidas del mundo. Durante los primeros años de su operación, se imponía un régimen de silencio absoluto, incluso durante las comidas, y cualquier ruido era severamente castigado.

Pese a todo hubo escapes de Alcatraz. Una de las fugas más famosas ocurrió en 1962, cuando Frank Morris y los hermanos Anglin crearon un pasadizo detrás de las paredes de sus celdas utilizando cucharas, y escaparon en una balsa casera.

Alcatraz fue cerrada en 1963 debido a los elevados costos de mantenimiento y un cambio en la filosofía penitenciaria, que comenzaba a priorizar la rehabilitación en lugar de la mera punición. En 1969, un grupo de indígenas americanos ocupó la prisión como parte de una protesta por los derechos de los pueblos originarios de Estados Unidos.

Algunos de los presos más famosos que pasaron por esta cárcel son figuras que marcaron una época de crímenes y leyendas en la historia.

Uno de los mafiosos más infames de la historia de Chicago, fue uno de los primeros grandes nombres en pisar las duras celdas de Alcatraz. Conocido por su control sobre el contrabando de alcohol durante la Ley Seca, apuestas, prostitución y una vasta red de corrupción política, Capone se destacó más por sus habilidades para evadir la ley que por sus crímenes violentos. A pesar de haber sido responsable de la famosa “Masacre de San Valentín”, un tiroteo entre bandas rivales en Chicago, fue finalmente condenado por evasión de impuestos en 1931.

Su tiempo en Alcatraz, que comenzó en 1934, fue menos temido por su capacidad de manipulación que por la rigurosidad del sistema carcelario en la isla. A diferencia de su vida anterior, en la que los sobornos le abrieron muchas puertas, en Alcatraz, Capone se vio obligado a vivir de acuerdo a las reglas. Se dice que, durante su estancia, pasaba su tiempo tocando el banjo en una banda carcelaria. Fue liberado en 1939, tras haberse visto seriamente afectado por la sífilis.

Fue otro de los criminales más temidos que pasó por Alcatraz. Su apodo derivaba de su estilo de vida violento y su capacidad para perpetrar robos a mano armada. En 1933, Kelly se hizo famoso por el secuestro del magnate petrolero Charles Urschel, un crimen que realizó con su esposa, al estilo de Bonnie and Clyde.

Kelly fue trasladado a Alcatraz en 1934, año en que también ingresó Capone. Como parte de la estrategia del gobierno estadounidense de separar a los criminales más peligrosos y famosos. Sus intentos de manipular a los guardias y de mantener relaciones con personas fuera de la prisión fueron vanos. Finalmente optó por trabajar en la biblioteca, que contenía más de 15.000 libros.

Conocido como “Creepy”, fue un miembro destacado de la banda criminal de Ma Barker, una de las organizaciones criminales más temidas de la Gran Depresión. Su apodo proviene de la mirada desconcertante que poseía, capaz de inquietar incluso a los demás presos. Considerado un criminal de alto perfil, fue declarado “enemigo público número uno” por el FBI, lo que elevó aún más su notoriedad.

Pasó más de 25 años en Alcatraz, convirtiéndose en uno de los prisioneros más longevos. A pesar de su naturaleza violenta, durante su tiempo en la prisión, mostró un talento musical, tocando la guitarra y, más tarde, enseñando a Charles Manson los secretos de la música. Fue liberado en 1969, deportado a Canadá, y pasó sus últimos años en Torremolinos, España, donde vivió hasta su muerte en 1979.

Apodado «El hombre pájaro“, por su afición a las aves, Stroud se dedicó a criar canarios y estudiar el comportamiento de las aves en la prisión de Leavenworth, lo que le valió su apodo. Sin embargo, su vida criminal comenzaba mucho antes de su llegada a Alcatraz, cuando se dedicaba a actividades delictivas como el proxenetismo en Alaska.

Aunque en un primer momento se le permitió cuidar aves, pronto se le confinó al aislamiento, donde aprovechó el tiempo para estudiar francés, alemán y derecho. Se convirtió en un prisionero erudito, y su historia fue inmortalizada en la película “El hombre de Alcatraz” (1962).

Fue un gánster de Boston. Famoso por su implicación en más de una decena de crímenes, Bulger se vio envuelto en un complicado juego con el FBI. Se convirtió en informante del organismo mientras estaba en prisión, y antes de llegar a Alcatraz, habría participado en el experimento MK-Ultra, en el que la CIA utilizó LSD en los reclusos para estudiar los efectos del control mental.

Su tiempo allí fue breve, pero su historial criminal no. Luego de su liberación, tomó el control de una mafia irlandesa mientras continuaba colaborando con el FBI. En 2011, fue arrestado tras 16 años de fuga. El 30 de octubre de 2018, fue asesinado en la prisión de Hazelton, donde los reclusos le arrancaron los ojos y la lengua.

The hostilities between India and Pakistan over the contested territory of Kashmir are igniting fears that a localized skirmish could boil over into a wider conflict and threaten the stability of the region.

Watching closely is China and President Xi Jinping, a party to the Kashmir dispute with a stake in the outcome.

«For China, the stakes are high. Pakistan is its closest ally, and Beijing would not like to see it humiliated,» Sadanand Dhume, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), told Fox News Digital.

«Seen through the prism of U.S.-China competition, each country has a ‘side’ in this conflict. China is joined at the hip with Pakistan, whereas the U.S. and India have grown increasingly close over the past two decades,» Dhume added.

PAKISTAN FEARS INDIA INCURSION ‘IMMINENT’ AMID HEIGHTENED TENSIONS FOLLOWING TERROR ATTAC

The U.S. war in Afghanistan after 9/11 created a dependence on Pakistan’s military and intelligence that required close cooperation. Since the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, U.S. engagement with Pakistan has been limited and Islamabad has less relevance for Washington’s foreign policy aims.

Max Abrahms, an expert on terrorism at Northeastern University, told Fox News Digital that the fight over Kashmir could now become a venue for U.S.-China competition.

«The India-Pakistan conflict may emerge as a proxy war where India is backed by the U.S. and Pakistan is backed by China,» Abrahms said.

Yigal Carmon, president of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) and a former counterterrorism advisor to the Israeli government, told Fox News Digital that Kashmir is not just a clash between India and Pakistan. If the war escalates, he said, it could lead to the dismantling of Pakistan and have repercussions in Afghanistan, Iran and China.

Indian police officers stand guard at a checkpoint near Pahalgam in south Kashmir after assailants indiscriminately opened fired at tourists visiting Pahalgam, Indian-controlled Kashmir, on April 22. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

«Balochistan may soon acquire a de-facto independence. China will be one of the main losers of such a development, as it has heavily invested in the Gwadar Port, located in the Balochistan province of Pakistan,» Carmon said.

New Delhi launched retaliatory strikes against Punjab and Pakistan-administered Kashmir following a deadly attack on tourists in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region on April 22 that saw 26 people killed by terrorists.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged a forceful response, saying the perpetrators will be pursued till the «ends of the earth.»

TRUMP OFFERS TO HELP INDIA, PAKISTAN AMID GROWING CONFLICT: ‘I WANT TO SEE THEM STOP’

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, hugs Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari at a signing ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Feb. 5. (Wu Hao HAO/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

How far Pakistan will target India is uncertain, but Pakistan’s military, which yields significant influence in Pakistani politics, will likely want to exert a powerful response and avoid any appearances that the country looks weak.

«If Pakistan suffers a humiliating defeat, it would weaken the military’s grip on the country,» AEI’s Dhume said.

Dhume also said that any conflict that unravels Pakistan’s domestic stability would give a boost to separatist groups in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces who have long sought independence from Pakistan.

PAKISTAN CALLS INDIA’S STRIKES AN ‘ACT OF WAR’ AND CLAIMS IT SHOT DOWN INDIAN FIGHTER JETS

Chietigj Bajpaee, senior research fellow for South Asia at Chatham House, said that India will try to ensure that the conflict remains limited and focus its efforts on targeting terrorists, avoiding civilian casualties. 

Bajpaee told Fox News Digital that maintaining an anti-Indian stance is important to the legitimacy of the Pakistani military and intelligence establishment, and adopting an assertive military posture will be necessary to assuage domestic pressures.

Paramilitary soldiers stand guard near Pahalgam in India on April 22. (Waseem Andrabi/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

«Although I don’t see an imminent possibility of Pakistan breaking up or a spillover of the conflict into Iran or Afghanistan, the conflict could fundamentally alter the relationship between the military and the civilian government and population, which has already been in decline,» Bajpaee said.

The fear for many experts and policymakers is whether the clashes lead to inadvertent escalation between two nuclear-armed powers. India and Pakistan have an estimated combined 342 nuclear warheads, according to the Arms Control Association, and their nuclear doctrines are motivated by their mutual enmity and desire to deter the other.  

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President Donald Trump has not yet engaged directly with Indian or Pakistani officials, but said Wednesday he wants to see them «work it out» and that «if I can do anything to help, I will be there.»

Americans lambasted President George H. W. Bush for infamously vowing on stage at the 1988 Republican National Convention not to raise taxes on Americans, then supporting a tax hike as president two years later. 

History could repeat itself as President Donald Trump this week signaled his support for congressional Republicans raising taxes to accomplish the ambitious goals of his «big, beautiful bill,» according to experts.

«My opponent won’t rule out raising taxes, but I will. And the Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I’ll say no. And they’ll push and I’ll say no. And they’ll push again, and I’ll say to them: ‘Read my lips: no new taxes,’» then-Vice President Bush vowed at the 1988 convention, before raising taxes two years later with the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. 

While acknowledging the political backlash his fellow Republican faced, Trump signaled in a Truth Social post on Friday his own willingness to raise taxes on Americans, following reports confirmed by Fox News Digital that the president is considering raising the tax rate on individuals making $2.5 million or more by 2.6%, from 37% to 39.6%.

TRUMP CONSIDERS TAX HIKE ON AMERICANS MAKING $2.5 MILLION OR MORE PER YEAR

«The problem with even a ‘TINY’ tax increase for the RICH, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming, ‘Read my lips,’ the fabled Quote by George Bush the Elder that is said to have cost him the Election. NO, Ross Perot cost him the Election! In any event, Republicans should probably not do it, but I’m OK if they do!!!» Trump said. 

WHITE HOUSE QUIETLY FLOATS MILLIONAIRE TAX HIKE PROPOSAL IN CONGRESS AS GOP LEADERS SIGNAL OPPOSITION

Ross Perot, the late billionaire Texas businessman and philanthropist, ran an independent campaign as a third-party candidate in the 1992 presidential election, winning an historic 19% of the popular vote.

As Trump suggested, the political fallout of raising taxes contributed to Bush losing re-election to President Bill Clinton in 1992. Democrats slammed Bush in campaign ads for walking back his word as conservative Republicans criticized the president for being out of step with the party’s traditional tax policies. 

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich led Republican criticism of Bush’s tax hike proposal, and Gingrich has urged Trump to stand down on raising taxes since rumors the administration was floating a small tax hike first swirled. 

TRUMP’S FIRST VICE PRESIDENT URGES HIS OLD BOSS AGAINST RAISING TAXES ON WEALTHY AMERICANS

Gingrich recently told Larry Kudlow on FOX Business that Trump is a Ronald Reagan Republican, not a Bush Republican, and raising taxes would be an «act of destruction.»

«It would absolutely shatter his coalition,» Gingrich said. «It would mean the entire conservative movement would rise in rebellion, and it would mean every small business in the country would start recalculating who they are going to lay off, if they are even going to stay in business. It would make no sense at all.»

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is leading ongoing budget negotiations for Trump’s «big, beautiful bill.» (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

Negotiations are ongoing among House Republicans to finalize Trump’s «big, beautiful bill,» which is expected to include an extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and fulfill campaign promises, including no tax on tips, overtime or Social Security. 

Republican politicians and pundits have joined Gingrich’s critique of Trump’s potential tax hike, arguing Trump is repeating the same mistakes as Bush. 

«[House] Speaker [Mike] Johnson and Republican members of Congress must have experienced collective déjà vu when President Trump urged Congress to raise taxes,» New England College President Wayne Lesperance, a veteran political scientist and political historian, told Fox News Digital.           

«Harkening back to the infamous ‘Read my lips’ pledge made by George H. W. Bush at the 1988 GOP Convention, today’s Republicans must be nervous at the president’s change on what is a sacrosanct issue for the party — tax cuts. Interestingly, George H. W. Bush’s decision to break his pledge was surrounded by notably different circumstances,» Lesperance added. 

In this Feb. 11, 1991, file photo, President George H. W. Bush talks to reporters in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., after meeting with top military advisors to discuss the Persian Gulf War.  (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)

But Lesperance reminded Republicans, who currently control the House and Senate, that Democrats could gain an edge in the 2026 midterms if tax hikes prove to be as unpopular among Republicans as they were in 1992. 

«Facing a Democratically controlled Congress, Bush reneged on his pledge as a compromise to reduce the deficit and pass the 1990 budget agreement. Bush’s decision to compromise on taxes is widely credited with costing him his bid for re-election. As Speaker Johnson and Republican members of Congress look ahead to midterm elections, there must be collective worry that President Trump’s shifting position on taxes will cost them at the polls,» Lesperance said. 

Longtime Republican consultant David Carney, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns, said the move by Bush «was probably the single most detrimental thing to his re-election.»

Then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York on Oct. 27, 2024. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

Carney, who served in the elder Bush’s White House and worked on his presidential campaigns, told Fox News «the deal he cut was excellent. He cut spending, balanced out the taxes.»

But Carney emphasized «all that’s inside baseball and the reality is it was a great opportunity for people from the right and the left to make hay out of it, and it was absolutely hurtful.»

However, fiscal conservatives remain optimistic that Trump won’t raise taxes, despite the president softening to the idea on social media on Friday morning. 

«President Trump campaigned on not raising taxes, and we are confident that’s exactly what he’ll do,» Club for Growth President David McIntosh told Fox News Digital. 

When reached for comment about the Bush comparison, the White House pointed to press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s comments during the White House briefing on Friday. 

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«The president wants tax cuts, the largest tax cuts in history,» Leavitt said. «He wants to extend his historic tax cuts from 2017, and he wants to see all the other tax priorities,» including no tax on tips, overtime or Social Security. 

«The president has said he himself personally would not mind paying a little bit more to help the poor and the middle class and the working class in this country. I think, frankly, that’s a very honorable position. But again, these negotiations are ongoing on Capitol Hill, and the president will weigh in when he feels necessary,» she added. 

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.